Phil Appears in the Tabloids!
In September, 2005, I was contacted by the Weekly World News—I am not making
this up—asking whether they could use a couple of photos in an article about
planned obsolescence in electronics.
I was initially skeptical. The Weekly World News, as you may know, is a supermarket
tabloid specializing in stories about space aliens and bizarre events. They convinced
me that this would be a serious article, however, so I said, "Sure, why not?"
The article appeared in the October 31st issue, along with pieces about overweight
skeletons and the miracle baby who parted the waters of Lake Michigan, as well as
an interview with the Headless Horseman's disembodied head.
Below you can see the front page of that issue, and the article. What a hoot!
True to form, WWN doctored the photo that I sent them. You can see the
original photo on my About
page. That photo shows the chassis from my little Emerson radio/tv,
next to my left elbow. Into that photo they pasted another one from the Emerson
article, showing the same TV with Martha Stewart on the screen.
Oh, well—that's journalism!
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